Syamala Goli also referred to as Goli Syamala is an Indian endurance swimmer, Producer, Creative Director and Writer to the Animation Series and Movies. In 19th March 2021, she became the second Indian woman and second woman in the world after

Bula Choudhury Bula Choudhury (born 2 January 1970 in Hugli, India) is an Indian former swimmer. She is an Arjuna awardee, Padma shri awardee, former India national women's swimming champion and elected as MLA from 2006 to 2011 representing Nandanpur in We ...

to have crossed the

Palk Strait Palk Strait is a strait between the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and Northern Province of Sri Lanka. It connects the Palk Bay in the Bay of Bengal in the north with the Gulf of Mannar in the Laccadive sea in the south. It stretches for about ...

. She completed the feat at the age of 47.

Career

She holds a postgraduate degree in

sociology Sociology is the scientific study of human society that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. The term sociol ...

and initially pursued her career as an animation film producer and director after starting up an animation company in Hyderabad. After running the animation company for over ten years, she decided to quit it due to financial constraints. Syamala also runs a play school Small Steps Preschool and Daycare in

Hyderabad Hyderabad is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India. With an average altitude of , much ...

Telangana Telangana is a States and union territories of India, state in India situated in the Southern India, south-central part of the Indian subcontinent on the high Deccan Plateau. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, ele ...

. She pursued her interest in

swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, such as saltwater or freshwater environments, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Swimmers achieve locomotion by coordinating limb and body movements to achieve hydrody ...

at the age of 44 and joined a summer camp in 2016. She began her career in swimming in order to overcome from

aquaphobia Aquaphobia () is an irrational fear of water. Aquaphobia is considered a specific phobia of natural environment type in the ''Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders''. A specific phobia is an intense fear of something that poses ...

. She began her rollercoaster career in swimming by crossing Ganga Open Water in

Patna Patna (; , ISO 15919, ISO: ''Paṭanā''), historically known as Pataliputra, Pāṭaliputra, is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and largest city of the state of Bihar in India. According to the United Nations, ...

up to a distance of 13 km in 2019. In 2019, she swam across

River Krishna The Krishna River in the Deccan plateau is the third-longest in India, after the Ganga and Godavari. It is also the fourth-largest in terms of water inflows and river basin area in India, after the Ganga, Indus and Godavari. The river, also ca ...

Vijayawada Vijayawada ( ), formerly known by its colonial name Bezawada, is the second largest city and a major commercial hub in the Andhra Pradesh state of India. The city forms an integral part of the Andhra Pradesh Capital Region and is situated on th ...

River Ganga The Ganges ( ; in India: Ganga, ; in Bangladesh: Padma, ). "The Ganges Basin, known in India as the Ganga and in Bangladesh as the Padma, is an international which goes through India, Bangladesh, Nepal and China." is a trans-boundary rive ...

and River Hooghly in

Kolkata Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...

. She also represented Telangana at the 2020 FINA World Masters Championship which was held in Guwanju,

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

. She also competed at the 2019 National Open Water Ganga River Swimming Championships and also participated at the 2019 open-sea swimming championships which was held at

Porbandar Porbandar is a city and the headquarters of Porbandar district in the Indian state of Gujarat. It is the birthplace of Mahatma Gandhi and Sudama. It was the former capital of the Porbandar State, Porbandar princely state. Porbandar and Chhaya, ...

Gujarat Gujarat () is a States of India, state along the Western India, western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the List of states and union territories ...

Palk Strait expedition

Syamala then applied to swim the 30 mile long

in March 2020. She was all set and well prepared to swim across the Palk Strait but she had to postpone it due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. On 8 March 2020, just a day prior to her scheduled expedition,

Government of Sri Lanka The Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) (; ) is a Semi-presidential republic determined by the Constitution of Sri Lanka, Sri Lankan Constitution. It administers the island from both its commercial capital of Colombo and the administrative capital o ...

implemented nationwide island wide lockdown. However exactly a year later, Syamala began her attempt of swimming across the Palk Strait with the support of Indian High Commissioner and Sri Lanka High Commissioner. On 19 March 2021, Syamala successfully swam across Palk Strait for 13 hours and 43 minutes starting her journey at 4.15am from

Talaimannar Talaimannar (; ) is a settlement in Sri Lanka located on the northwestern coast of Mannar Island. Transport Sri Lanka's northern railway line was destroyed, disrupted or neglected during the 30-year Sri Lankan civil war, which ended in May 2009 ...

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

to Arichalmunai, India. She completed the journey at Indian local time 5.30 pm. She revealed that she faced very rough conditions in the Arabian sea difficulties during the last five hours of the expedition. During the expedition, she was accompanied by a 13-member crew including a doctor and observers from the Swimming Federation of India. She began her preparation and training to complete the Palk Strait feat in November 2020 after taking break due to the

. She trained at SR Swimming Pool at

Miyapur Miyapur ( ), located northwest of Hyderabad in India, is part of Greater Hyderabad and administered by GHMC and developed by HMDA. Transportation is managed by UMTA. Miyapur has many lakes, and upscale residential apartments. The Jawaharl ...

for the Palk Strait expedition. She became only the second woman swimmer as well as thirteenth swimmer in the world to have crossed the Palk Strait and first person from Telangana to have achieved the milestone. It was reported that she was inspired to swim the Palk Strait after reading about the successful expeditions by swimmers when swimming across the

English Channel The English Channel, also known as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates Southern England from northern France. It links to the southern part of the North Sea by the Strait of Dover at its northeastern end. It is the busi ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Goli, Syamala Living people Indian female swimmers Indian educators Sportspeople from Telangana 21st-century Indian women 21st-century Indian people People from Hyderabad, India Year of birth missing (living people)